Dating Yujin was easy.

It didn’t require a big schedule shift, because they had already been spending ridiculous amounts of time together as Yujin hurried to finish her midterm painting, but it was different now, because they could just be. Homework together always came first, because Wonyoung expected a lot of herself academically and told Yujin that she needed to work hard too, art major or not– but after that, they could do as they pleased.

Yujin was big on going out and doing things, and Wonyoung didn’t mind being dragged along, no matter how stupid Yujin’s plans could be sometimes. Yujin liked to wake her up early on Saturday mornings and drag her to random corners of the city she had never been to before. She especially liked to do all of those touristy things that visitors to Seoul did but natives never did in their lives. Even though Wonyoung had lived in Seoul for most of her life, there was so much of the city that she’d never seen before, had never even thought to look for.

They did normal date things, too– packed lunch to eat in the park, window shopped in Myeongdong, spent the day at the zoo, where Yujin changed her favorite animal from dog to monkey to bear to tiger to lion to warthog and back to dog again. Yujin taught her how to rollerblade one afternoon, and it was stupid fun, even when Wonyoung totally wiped out and scraped her knee. Yujin was so frantic and worried, so apologetic that Wonyoung had to keep laughingly assure her that it was okay, that she wasn’t mad, wasn’t broken. Yujin drew a dog on her apology card anyway, and it was so cute that Wonyoung hung it on her wall.

They tried a different restaurant every week, and Yujin made a habit of picking the sketchiest sounding thing on the menu and force feeding bits to Wonyoung, whether she wanted to try it or not. The ticklish point at the back of Wonyoung’s neck had been discovered way too early on, and Yujin exploited that at any and every opportunity, much to Wonyoung’s public embarrassment.

But it was okay, because Yujin also snuck kisses whenever she thought she could get away with it, on the subway or when they were walking by themselves in the street, and Wonyoung loved to be kissed.

She loved it almost as much as whenever Yujin would lean in close and whisper “I like you, Jang Wonyoung” confidentially, like each time was a fresh confession, and it made Wonyoung’s whole body tingle down to the tips of her toes.

It took her a couple of weeks to say it herself, to get over being worried that this was all some sort of dream brought on by wishful thinking and too much overly strong espresso– but then she went up on tiptoe and pressed her nose into the curve of Yujin’s neck in the doorway of her apartment as they were saying goodnight, and she murmured, “I like you, Ahn Yujin.”

The laugh that got, sudden and surprised and maybe a tinge relieved, made her laugh, too– and they kissed and kissed and didn’t say goodnight for real until a while later.

♡

There was nothing unusual, at this point, about Wonyoung going to Yujin’s apartment straight after lab. She climbed the six flights of stairs, same as always, and let herself in, because Yujin never remembered to lock her door even when she went out, anyway.

What was unusual was for someone else to already be over– someone tall and undeniably pretty, and Wonyoung froze.

“Oh hey, Wonyoung!” Yujin leapt up from her chair, tossing her sketchbook aside in favor of grabbing Wonyoung’s arm and tugging her further into the room. “Meet my friend Yuna from the engineering department! I know she looks scary, but she’s actually not at all, so don’t be afraid.” Wonyoung was still confused, but she let Yujin help her out of her backpack and get her a chair.

Yuna nodded in greeting. “What’s up?” Her face was undoubtedly intimidating, with strong brows over the kind of face that Wonyoung had only seen in magazines, and it made her uneasy.

“Uh, nice to meet you...” She looked from Yuna and her brunette hair and model physique to Yujin, who had retrieved her sketchbook and pencil and gotten right back to work. She wasn’t sure if she got the connection.

“Yujin...?” she whispered, leaning closer to Yujin’s chair.

“Not that I don’t trust you, but...why is she here? And why she wearing that?” It was almost winter, and the heat still hadn’t been in Yujin’s apartment but this unfamiliar girl is in her leotards and tights. Wonyoung was a little cold in her purple sweater, right in the pit of her stomach.

“Eh, you know how it is. Another art thing,” Yujin grumbled, not at all discreetly. “We’re focusing on the human form so I have to sketch her a billion times until Ms. Kwon says it’s good enough and I can move on.” Then she grinned, that grin that made her eye twitch excitedly. “Everyone wanted to get Yuna to model for them, so I lucked out!”

Yuna rolled her eyes. “Shut up. You know I got forced right? You owe me.”

“I told you I’ll buy you food.”

“Fried chicken.”

“Yeah, f